Goldwater Bloc Takes Control Of California C.O.P. Convention

FRESNO, Calif., March 14—Supporters of Senator Barry Goldwater, after tumultuous de­bate, demonstrated control to­night over a convention of the 14,500‐member California Re­publican Assembly.

By a vote of 353 to 264, the convention seated a contested delegation from Berkeley fa­voring the Arizonan for the Republican Presidential nomi­nation

This means, it was widely agreed by spokesman for both sides in the controversy—those favorable to Senator Goldwater and those backing Governor Rockefeller of New York—that the Goldwater forces will be able tomorrow to swing the convention's endorsement for Mr. Goldwater.

Governor Rockefeller and his strategists have been working to block an endorsement for either candidate. They want the statewide volunteer party organization to remain neutral while the candidates carry their campaign to the people of Cali­fornia from now until the pri­mary, June 2.

“Senator Goldwater will con­trol the convention as a result of this vote,” said Worth Brown, a former president of the Assembly and a member of the Goldwater delegate ticket.

Fred Hall, a former Governor of Kansas, who is with the forces, agreed.

Earlier, the convention broke into disorder fully 24 hours be­fore the endorsement battle had been expected to start.

So unruly did the meeting become that the assembly pres­ident, William Nelligan, a po­litical moderate, threatened to clear the room of all visitors and to cancel a luncheon and a dinner.

He accused supporters of Senator Goldwater of “dilatory and delaying action” and of packing the hall with cheering backers of the Arizonan.

Over the protests of Gold­water spokesmen, he finally re­cessed the convention for lunch. even before the convention had formally organized.

The bitter fight began after gathering delegates and visi­tors listened to a 53‐minute speech by Governor Rockefel­let in the Las Vegas Room of the Fresno Hacienda. The lunch­eon address was delivered by Harold E. Stassen, former Gov­ernor of Minnesota, who, with Governor Rockefeller and Sena­tor Goldwater. has entered the California primary. Mr. Gold­water's speech was on the din­ner program.

The verbal free‐for‐all was precipitated by Gardiner Johr­son, a San Francisco lawyer who is a member of the Gold­water delegate ticket on the primary ballot and a delegate

Mr. Johnson, who has been known as a master of parlia­mentary law during his years in the State Assembly at Sac­ramento. called for using Rob­erts' Rules of Order instead of Mason's Manual, which was prescribed by the convention bylaws. He also demanded to know why Mr. Nelligan was calling for a session of the assembly's board of directors before the delegates had been seated. He said such a meet­ing was out of order.

Mr. Johnson's statements drew cheers and applause from both ends of the hall. Cries of “Sit down,” . “Stand up.” and “Sergeant‐at‐arms!” punctuated the debate between the Gold­water leader and Mr. Nelligan and his parliamentarians.

Audience Is Exhorted

“I know you people have your purpose of trying to win an en­dorsement here,” Mr. Nelligan told Mr. Johnson. “But I know we have a luncheon schedule, and if you continue on this kind of haranguing—

The rest of his sentence was lost as Mr. Johnson retorted, amid more applause, that he had never heard parliamentary queries “called haranguing be­fore.”

“The orderly conduct of the business here,” he went on, “is more important than any lunch­eon ticket arrangements.”

At one point Mr. Nelligan told those who cheered Mr. Johnson:

“If you don't want to conduct this meeting by orderly process, then we are going to eliminate you. You can see right now you're going to be here until next Wednesday. All I'm trying to do is to achieve orderly pro­cedures.”

Mr. Nelligan, after calling the controversial luncheon recess, accused the Goldwater followers of trying to disrupt the con­vention.

Mr Johnson defended his tac­tics by charging that the Rockefeller forces were trying to seat some contested delega­tions who would then vote on certain motions before the rest of the convention was organ­ized.

Mr. Nelligan contended that his purpose was to have uncon­tested delegates seated by the board of directors and then take up the question of contested delegations.

A. Rockefeller strategist charged later that the Gold­water forces were seeking to delay the convention until many Rockefeller delegates had left. then seek an endorsement for the Senator.

After a long‐delayed lunch­con, the assembly's board of directors met and seated un­contested delegates. This group then began a noisy, strife‐rid­den session that lasted nearly three and a half hours and led to the seating of the Goldwater­committed Berkeley delegation of 11 members.